How To Grow Kale: From Seed To Harvesting – Bring Justice For Your Kale Crops!

I know that kale from the supermarket tastes bitter if not treated right, but do you know that if you grow your kale, you can eliminate all the bitterness? Learn how to grow kale: from seed to harvesting with me! Kales are easy to care for; the pungent flavor will be almost non-existent if you provide them with consistent hydration and temperature.

I will give you the complete instructions and helpful side tips to ensure your kale crop is healthy and delicious!

Overview

Level of difficulty: Easy

Nutrients: Despite not being a superfood, many people, especially those who want to shed weight choose kale as a significant part of their diet. The vegetable provides vitamins such as C and K, and its fiber content promotes a healthy gut.

Nutrients in kale

Height: Kale can grow up to 3 feet tall, but it’s not common if grown in small gardens or pots. The height of the kale also depends on the variety.

Time to mature: Most kale varieties, from dwarf to standard, take around 50 to 80 days to mature entirely from seeds. 

Time to sow: Spring and fall are the best seasons to sow kale seeds. If you want to start in spring, sow right when March or April comes up the calendar or when there are still 1-2 frosts to come. If you want to sow in the fall, check out when the first frost hits your area this season. The frost usually occurs in late September or early October, so germinate kale seeds before that.

Lifespan: Kales are biennial, which means they produce leaves in the first year and start flowering in the next for seed production. If you don’t intend to gather seeds, it’s okay to harvest all the leaves and remove the stalk and root of the kale for soil amendment. 

How To Grow Kale: From Seed To Harvesting

Growing kales is easier than you thought! All you need to know is the perfect time to sow and the basic thriving plan of this leafy green. Learn the steps right here!

Germination

How to germinate kale seeds

There are 2 ways to germinate kale seeds, I will show you both and you can decide by judging their pros and cons!

Germinating kale seeds in paper towel: Easy and clean, you don’t have to buy extra tools for this method and it’s more convenient to check seeds’ viability. There isn’t much inconvenience to this method except that you have to be extra careful when removing the seeds from the paper towel in order not to snap the roots.

Step 1: Prepare a soft paper towel that is easy to tear, distilled water, good-quality kale seeds, loamy and well-drained soil, and a zip bag.

Step 2: Open the paper towel on a clean surface and spray until half of it is moist.

Step 3: Place the seeds on the wet half and make sure that they don’t lie too close to each other. This is crucial cause you don’t want the radicles to attach to each other.

Step 4: Close the other half over the moist half, seal the edges, and spray until the dry half becomes moist.

Step 5: Place the paper towel inside the zip bag to seal in the moisture and put the bag in a place where the temperature is consistently between 50 to 80 degrees F. Kale seeds will only take 7 to 10 days max to break the coats. Between those days, check in once or twice to see if the paper towel needs more moisture, or if there are seeds that have sprouted already.

Germinating kale seeds in cell flats: The method requires more effort but you can get the seeds accustomed to soil from the first day and allow the root systems to develop before repotting. The roots don’t get damaged easily!

Germinating kale seeds in cell flats

Step 1: Prepare cell flat trays depending on the number of seeds you want to sow, a well-drained and loamy soil blend, distilled water, and a good batch of kale seeds that are under 2 years old.

Step 2: Clean the trays well and fill each cell flat with the soil blend that I recommend.

Step 3: Make holes as deep as 1 ½ inches to sow the kale seeds. They are quite small so you don’t have to make deeper holes.

Step 4: Put each kale seed in each hole in each cell flat. Fill the holes with the same soil, and water thoroughly. Make sure that the bottom of the cell flats has holes to drain the deep watering we just provide.

Step 5: The same as the paper towel method, kale seeds should germinate after 7 to 10 days or even sooner.

Transplanting seedlings to containers or garden beds

If you decide to try the paper towel method, transplanting should occur sooner than with the cell flat method.When the radicles break the seed coats inside of the paper towel, it’s time to transfer the seeds to the soil before the sprouts and roots grow too long and tangled together.

You have to transplant kale seeds earlier if they are germinated in a paper towel

On the contrary, the kale seeds that thrive in the cell flats don’t need to move from their cradles so soon. You can leave the sprouts to grow into seedlings that are at least 2-3 inches before repotting.

Prep the pots or garden beds with the same soil blend that is full of compost or well-rotted manure. Then make holes big enough to hold the entire roots of the kale seedlings, pack the dirt around the stems, and water well.

Adult kale

In 30 to 50 days more, the kales are quickly reaching adulthood and you can see how quick the inner leaves emerge. This is the phase where you have to start cutting the outer leaves for consumption or remove them to avoid attracting insects and worms to crawl up the top leaves. I suggest going with the first option!

Protect your crops from fungi because there is no turning back if the plants are heavily infected. Even using fungicide won’t help at this point. So even when you find cutting the old and yellow leaves bothersome or spraying preventative solution frequently inconvenient, I still heavily recommend it.

You can start harvesting the outer leaves of kale

Harvest

You can start harvesting kale leaves before the expected time. Kale leaves develop from the inside out so the outer leaves are the oldest and can be consumed when new leaves have already been emerging. Just make sure that you don’t cut them all. The roots need to receive energy from the leaves to feed the plants, so ensure you leave behind some large foliage.

Use a scissor to remove each leaf without cutting into the stalks. Allow new leaves to grow out of the same spots and you can keep harvesting fresh greens for about 2 weeks. Remove the plants only when you find the yield stagnates.

How To Care For Your Kale Crops

This step is crucial when it comes to deciding the after flavor of your kale crop. If you don’t like the bitterness of some kales, follow my instructions carefully.

Light

Kales thrive the best in full sun so make sure that they receive at least 6 hours of sunlight every day. Also, this crop can tolerate partial shade and may even require it during the maturing phase if the sun is too intense. Hot sun with high heat will surely make the leaves wilt.

So on days that both the light and temperature conditions aren’t ideal, I suggest giving the crops a light cover with a bright-colored mesh or fabric. Black fabrics tend to attract heat so avoid using them as shade providers.

Kales love living in full sun

Temperature

This is arguably the most important factor that decides the outcome of your kales’ flavor. Kales tend to get bitterer and bitterer if exposed to excessive summer heat without any form of protection. That’s why most farmers choose to sow kale seeds in spring or fall so that the plants don’t have to grow in intense heat.

So, grow kales during months with consistent temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees F. The crop can definitely tolerate a short frost, and its sweet flavor is enhanced with this period of cold. In fact, kales are cold-hardy and can survive in temperatures around 10 to 20 degrees F.

Avoid sowing the seeds in mid-summer because that will guarantee a bitter crop. In case the days get hotter out of nowhere, mulch the soil to keep it cool, thus protecting the kales from the summer heat. Use newspapers, straws, and coconut coir, and implement a deep yet infrequent irrigation style to protect the roots from heatwaves.

Kales are quite cold-hardy

Humidity / water

Deep and infrequent, make sure that you implement this watering style with your kale crops. If your kales have to go through drought stress frequently, they will produce a bitter taste and there is no way to fix it. You may reduce the intensity of that flavor note, but it won’t go away entirely.

How much water is deep enough and how infrequent it should be? Kales should receive 1 to 2 inches of water weekly. But it’s quite hard to measure judging how the climate behaves differently depending on each zone. My advice is to water once every 3 to 4 days, more or less, depending on the moisture of the first inch of soil. It should be moist at all-time yet still have time to drain instead of stacking inside the soil.

Soil

As always, a well-drained yet water-retentive soil blend is recommended. Prepare a loamy, porous, and light soil quality to grow your kales. The blend should contain compost or well-rotted manure to create a lighter texture and fertile nature as well. Not just for growing in the garden, you can choose potting soil with these requirements and your kale crops will thrive healthily.

Kales love well-drained and loamy soil

Diseases / bugs

Your crops can always come under attack by fungi and bugs if you don’t give them a little spray now and then. Use preventative fungicide with gentle characteristics and spray your kale 1 week after transplanting it into pots or garden beds so that the fungi and diseases don’t have a chance to leave an impact. Do it before it’s too late!

Is there any other way to prevent diseases where you don’t have to use chemicals? You may control the propagation by keeping the soil well-drained at all times. Don’t allow it to be soggy and make sure that the greens receive sunlight. This should at least keep the fungi away.

But, with that said, I still encourage the use of preventative fungicide due to how gentle it can be if you dilute it with water. You can use Neem Oil, Vital Defender, or Safer Garden.

Fertilizer

As I mentioned, kales love fertile soil and will produce the best yield in this soil quality. But, it’s best to keep in mind that the species prefers organic matter, such as compost or manure, to amend its living environment. Make sure the ground is mixed with compost right from the beginning before you transplant.

Kales love fertile soil.

In case you want to implement fertilizers, pick those with a balanced N-P-K ratio with a gentle nutrient level. I recommend 4-4-4 or 5-5-5. In case you want to promote leafier growth, you can pick products with higher nitrogen levels since it promotes foliage spawning, but the phosphorous and potash levels should be up to par as well. I recommend 10-10-5 or 5-1-2 fertilizers.

FAQs

How do I make kale taste less bitter?

Adding spices to your bowl of kale will greatly reduce the bitter flavor. Drizzle some salt, lemon juice, or sweet salad dressings on top of the leafy greens will balance the flavor. Or, you can chop the leaves into smaller pieces, massage the pieces so that the bitter note breaks down, and rinse briefly.

What is the best soil pH for kale?

Kale enjoys living in neutral soil so keep the pH level balanced between 6 and 7.5.

How can I make sure that kales don’t develop a bitter flavor during growth?

A cool weather and no drought stress are what kale crops need to produce a sweeter flavor and less bitter notes. The hotter the weather, the bitterer the taste is.

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